Quebec court expands Canada's euthanasia law by striking the terminal illness requirement. Euthanasia for psychological reasons is next.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Quebec Superior Court struck down the requirement that a person be terminally ill before they qualify for euthanasia in Canada. The Canadian Press (CP) reported:

Quebec Superior Court has invalidated parts of the federal and Quebec laws on medically assisted dying laws, declaring them too restrictive and therefore unconstitutional. 

A judge today found the "reasonably foreseeable natural death" requirement of the Criminal Code, which prevents some people from accessing medical assistance in dying, invalid.

The Quebec court expanded Canada's euthanasia law by eliminating the veneer of a requirement that a doctor can only lethally inject people who are terminally ill.

The federal or Québec governments have 30 days to appeal the decision.

This court decision may also extend euthanasia to people for psychological reasons. Canada's euthanasia law states that a person qualifies for euthanasia if the:

illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable

A person didn't qualify for euthanasia based on psychological reasons alone since the law required that the person's "natural death be reasonably forseeable". Now the court has struck down this important safeguard.

A CBC report by Steve Rukavina stated that disability rights groups opposed the court decision. Rukavina reported:

Groups representing people with disabilities condemned the decision and encouraged the provincial and federal governments to appeal.

"Basically this decision is saying that as far as society's concerned, it's better to be dead than disabled," Amy Hasbrouck, with the group Not Dead Yet, told CBC Wednesday.

Hasbrouck said rather than making medically assisted dying easier to access, governments should be working to improve services for people with severe disabilities, so they can have a good quality of life and continue to live in their own homes.

The Associated Press continued:

The case was brought by two Quebecers -- Nicole Gladu and Jean Truchon -- who did not meet the criteria and had their requests for assisted death turned down by doctors. 

They launched a legal action against the federal and provincial governments, claiming their right to life, liberty and security, guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was infringed.

Yesterday I reported that the Lamb case, which was identical to the Gladu case in Quebec, may soon be dropped based on new interpretations of Canada's euthanasia law.

Nicole Gladu, Jean Truchon and Julia Lamb all live with chronic degenerative conditions. These women were not dying, when the cases were launched.

Euthanasia, in Canada, is quickly going out of control.